UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
Coming off an outstanding year of team and individual performances, the Penn State athletic program was No. 6 in the nation in 2007-08, according to SI.com.

The Nittany Lions' 2007-08 sports year included two national championships, four Big Ten titles and eight top 30 finishes. The men's and women's volleyball teams captured NCAA Championships. Women's soccer, men's gymnastics and women's outdoor track and field joined women's volleyball in winning conference crowns this past year, giving Penn State 54 Big Ten championships.

Penn State was the highest-rated Big Ten program in the SI.com compilation with 45 points. Arizona State topped the scoreboard, followed by Stanford, UCLA, North Carolina, Georgia and Penn State. Florida, Southern California, LSU and Tennessee rounded out the top 10. Michigan and Wisconsin were the only other Big Ten programs ranked in the Top 25.

SI.com developed a three pronged scoring system based on the number of national championships, conference titles, and top 30 finishes. In the first step, each national championship team for 22 sports (11 men's and 11 women's) was awarded 10 points.

Step two evaluated the success of these 22 teams on the conference level. Each school was awarded three points a sport for capturing a regular season conference title and one additional point for winning the season-ending conference tournament.

In the final step, SI.com used various NCAA-approved polls and sources to determine the final rankings each school had in the 22 sports. Points were awarded to each school by multiplying the number of relevant teams with top-30 finishes by two. The numbers from the three sections were then combined to determine the total number of points and ultimately the school's ranking.

Penn State previously had placed No. 9 in the NACDA Directors' Cup standings for 2007-08, the Nittany Lions' eighth Top 10 finish in the 15 years of the survey. Penn State has finished in the Top 25 in every Directors' Cup compilation.

For more information and a complete breakdown of the scoring system, please visit: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/sioncampus/07/01/2008-top-25-ncaa-rankings/index.html